Hi there. I am off to Colorado to visit our daughter and son-in-law for a few days. I love Colorado all year, but especially in the fall.
I found a new blog to follow. At thequiltshow.com they are playing several free shows. The one I watched yesterday was from Cindy Needham. She takes old linens and makes whole cloth quilts. I LOVE it as I have several old linens and 50's tablecloths that are stuck away in a drawer. Now I know how to use them so they can be seen. AND now I can collect more of them!! FUN FUN FUN.
   I have started a new program called Take Shape For Life. It is fantastic and I feel healthier now than I have for many years. It involves the 5 in 1 plan where you have 5 Medifast meal and 1 Lean and Green meal a day.
So far I have lost 8.5 pounds in 10 days and lots of inches. I never feel hungry as I eat ever 2-3 hours. The food tastes really good, so easy to do. I will keep you posted on my progress. If you want to know more email me at donnasartquilts@msn.com.
   Have a fun weekend!!!

This is one of the best sayings I have seen:
         " I've learned so much from my mistakes that I'm thinking of making more"
         Too many time adults do not allow themselves to  make mistakes, especially quilters. We need to make mistakes, that is how we learn.

  Well, I know I haven't posted for a while, sorry. I have been working on a baby quilt with my husband's cousin's daughter. She is six and wanted to make her soon-to -be-born sister a quilt. She picked out 20 fabrics and put them in the order she wanted for the 4 square by 5 square quilt. I had to cut  each square 9 1/2 inches each so that all the motifs she wanted in the fabric fitted into each square. Sewing the blocks together was fun as I had help from her and her 4 year old sister. Then I finished putting the blocks together and quilted it. The baby's room is decorated with owls and I happened to find owl fabric which I used for the back. Some of the fabrics were polka dotted and others had cute bugs, butterflies, etc. on them. I quilted some book titles onto a few of the dotted fabrics; such as"Goodnight Moon"( where I, also, quilted crescent moons) and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"( where I quilted caterpillars). There is no photo to post now as the 6 year old was VERY eager to give it to her mom. Each of the two girls decorated fabric with fabric markers and I cut them into cupcake shapes which I fused to the back of the quilt. There is also a cupcake for the new baby which both girls decorated. I added the date so this would also be a memory quilt. Only one thing was wrong, I put the wrong month in the date!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, I just told the mom she would always remember the date as one month sooner.


 Here are a few photos that may become art quilts.

This is a petunia that was growing in a large planter on a city street corner. Since they had just watered the planter, I was able to capture the water droplets.

This plant is Lady's Mantle. The history of this plant suggests that is was named for the Virgin Mary's mantle (her cape). My favorite feature is the way it catches the dew drops and rain drops. It has just rained a little that morning. I have this planted by a window so I can look at it each morning. I, also, like how the new leaves unfold like a fan. You can see the segments on this leaf.

This is a photo of the inside of a cantaloupe that we grew in our garden. I had never stopped to look at the design of the seeds and how they are divided into 6 segments. I used a photo program and enhanced the seeds a little.

This is a Anemone Robustissima from my garden. There are two reasons that this is one of my favorite plants. First it blooms in the fall when most of the flowers are done blooming for the year, and second the light pink color.  The bee gathering nectar was a bonus. You can see the bulging pollen sacs in his legs.

As I looked out my window, I saw this view and had to take a picture. I like the way the silhouettes of the trees partially encompass the moon and I like  the clouds in the sky. There is a tinge of orange on the horizon.

I took this photo of a cluster of acorns on our young oak tree. I like the contrast of the rough acorns and the smooth shiny oak leaves










   

July

Sorry I have not posted for a while. The quote for the day is from C.S. Lewis, " You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body."
Here are some photos for your enjoyment. This is a cluster of daylily blooms from my garden. I was playing with my camera to do different exposures.

 This is the normal exposure.

This is the same group of blooms in black and white.

This is done in sepia.

This is green.

This is blue.












 This is red.













 This is my favorite--the negative exposure. I really like how the colors come out so differently with the negative. That was a surprise to me. Since then I have done several photos in the negative. I especially like clouds.




















                                                                    

Quote of the Day

I decided that I would share with you  a quote that I find inspirational each time I post on my blog . So here is the quote of the day, July 7, 2011.
"For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness"
     Ralph Waldo Emerson

I thought I would share something that makes me happy every time I look at it: this daylily is named 'Strawberry Candy'

Vacation

I just got back from a  vacation in Estes Park, Colorado for a week with my husband and grown children with spouses. We all had a great time and enjoyed each others company all week. We had rented a house so were glad to have a full kitchen, dishwasher and washer and dryer in the house. The view from the second story deck was fabulous. It overlooked the Big Thompson River. To wake up each morning looking down (and hearing) the river through pine trees was unbelievable.

We drove on Trail Ridge Road. It is the highest paved road in the U.S. The views are breathtaking.. Here are some photos of our trip.
Above is the first sight we saw close to the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. It is a herd of elk. The elk come down from the high country
in the Fall  and spend the winter in Estes Park. Due to the late and heavy snow this year, this heard had not moved to the high country as yet. If you look closely you can see one or two baby elk that still have their spots.
This is the view as you start driving up Trail Ridge Road. At the top is the Alpine Visitor Center with an altitude of 12,000 feet ( I think).


This is the view on the way up from the entrance to the park.The ribbon you see is the road going up the mountain.


The mountains had lots of snow this year. The last storm was the end of May. While Trail Ridge Road usually opens on Memorial Day,it did not open this year until the middle of June. Here is part of a snow drift that was plowed to make access for the road. The people in front give a perspective as to how deep the snow was this year.  There still is a lot of snow to melt and the rivers are already full and moving fast.

This is the view as we rounded one of the curves on the road.

Close to the top of the mountain is the tundra.  This shows the thickness of the tundra which took hundreds is not thousands of years to form. The bottom picture is one of the types of wild flowers on the tundra. There is a path to walk up the mountain and look at the views and the wild flowers. Needless to say it is forbidden to walk on the tundra.

This is one of the views on the way down. Now you know where 'Purple mountains majesty' comes from in" America the Beautiful".







This is one of the mountain meadows. If you looked closely you can see a herd of elk. In all the years I have gone to Estes Park, I have never seen a heard of elk in the mountains.

Here is the view on the way down from the Alpine Center at the top of Trail Ridge Road. Breathtaking.




Here are some of the Lodge-pole Pines that the settlers used to make their homes. These pines grow tall and very straight, hence the reason they were used for walls of houses.

On the Move

   My husband's 101 year old Grandfather passed away last week, so we are on the move. The funeral was in Great Bend, Kansas where we were greeted by 104 degree temps and 50 mile an hour winds. That is a typical summer day in Great Bend.  From there we headed out for our vacation, so no posts for a while.
  Happy Summer

More Spring Flowers

Above is one of my last iris. I especially like the ruffles and the colors.  Above and on the right is a bud  the climbing rose Dawn. Due to the deer eating it these past years is has taken a while to get it to grow enough to cover one side of our arbor in the back. It now covers one side while the rose on the left covers the other.

The next few photos are of my rose on our trellis that  is over the gate that goes into our back yard. I am not sure of the name of this rose but it could be William Baffin??

 Here is a view of our pond. All the arching leaves in front are daylilies which will bloom in June. To the left are some of my Siberian Iris. The part of the pond that is behind the daylilies is covered with water lily pads and flowers.

 Above is my last peony of the year.

On the left is a close up of some of my Ostrich ferns that are planted by our back fence. This one escaped to the other side of the fence. I like how the sun is hitting the fern.

This is some more of my Ostrich ferns that escaped under the fence.

I like the color combination of the purple smoke bush and the yellow yarrow. The yarrow color is brighter than what the photo shows.

This is some of my hardy geraniums that are on the side of my front sidewalk. There are some on the other side of the walk. These used to be called sanguinum, but the name has changed. If I cut them off after blooming they will bloom again.

May Block of the Month

 This is the finished May Block of the Month from Sue Spargo. Two of the new stitches we learned were woven wheel roses or spider web roses and the drizzle stitch.  The spider web roses were added onto the light blue circles. I then added bullion stitches around the edges of the circles. I think they make the circles look like flowers. Around the center velvet are drizzle stitches in lime green Valdani thread. These were very fun to make, are three dimensional, and they make a very fun accent that is unique. Around  the leaves on the top is the Palestrina stitch. It consists of tiny knots and makes a nice outline stitch. I added per Sue's suggestion, two rows of wrapped back stitch on the orange flower. To make the wrapped back stitch just make the back stitch as usual and then wrap these stitches with thread that either matchs or contrasts the back stitch thread.  The small dots were punched out with a Fiskers 1/4" hole punch. I think they add a lot to the block. The stem is a ribbon. Bullion stitches with Silken Pearl 'Green Leaves' from The Thread Gatherer were made around the aqua flower center.

Still Here

I haven't posted for a few days as I have been getting together an idea for my husband's cousin's baby quilt. I WENT TO THE QUILT STORE. Since my foot surgery on March 30th, I have not been able to go to the quilt store. It was too much walking. Now I have recovered enough to go and it was fun. I got the idea for the baby quilt in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. You put yoyos of different sizes all over the quilt. Some can be alone while others may be stacked on top of each other. I will put a ruffle around the quilt since it will be a girl (their third) and put it together envelope style. I needed something to work on in the car on the way to Colorado for vacation and this will be perfect for working on it in the car. Since I am still not up to full speed, I doubt I will be able to drive much or not at all.  We will do it in two days, much easier. I used my Fiesta wear plates for the 4 different size circles( about 1",2",3" and 4"). I think I will quilt it first (thanks for the idea Linda) and then appliuqe the yoyos onto the top. The fabric is a really cute line with lots of matching colors and designs to choose from. I will post a photo of the fabric soon.

Memorial Day

May we all remember why we celebrate Memorial Day. Thank you to all  members of the military past and present that have served our country and kept us safe. May God keep you safe while you are far from your families. Iowa has the largest number of National Guard soldiers in a combat zone since WW  two.

Spring Musings

Here I am STILL in a boot with one crutch and wanting to get outside and enjoy the nice weather (in between the rain, that is). We have had about 5 inches in four days, but we were pretty dry and needed it. Our sump pump hasn't even kicked in yet. It will be great for our newly planted tomato and pepper plants and it will help our zucchini,cantaloupe, and cucumber seeds sprout. Now to keep the rabbits and deer away.
 So far the deer have stayed away from my hostas, but I am sure this won't last long. My Sum and Substance Hosta is amazing. The leaves are just huge this year. They are supposed to be, but they have never been this big before. The rest of hostas are looking really good. They really have liked the last two cool and rainy summers plus the good rain with cool temps this spring.
  I go to the foot Dr. today and I hope to be out of this boot, but doubt it. My foot will start hurting while wearing my boot and using one crutch if I walk very far--like to the back of a large grocery store and back to the front. I can only walk for about 5 minutes with a shoe. Just wish my foot would heal faster. It is really harder with this foot because it is spring and I want to out in the yard! Oh, well, I have plenty of applique to keep me busy.
 I am almost done with my May BOM from Sue Spargo. I will get the June BOM the second week of June.
I have my new original wool applique piece sketched out. I decided that Martin's Jungle will take a long time and wanted something smaller that I could use as a teaching pattern at a later date. This one has 1 large flower with lots of embroidery and 3 birds or chickens (haven't decided yet if it is folky enough for the chickens).
 I am using some of my own hand dyed wool for the background. I do not have enough wool dyed to use all of my own hand dyes for the whole piece as the only large pieces I have are values of blue, fuchsia, green and a dull orange. I haven't been able to dye fabric since the end of March, so I am having dying withdrawals!!
  I must get back to my applique.

Sue Spargo's Block of the Month #5

 Here is the May (#5) Block of the Month from Sue Spargo. I just have the pieces pinned onto the background and am ready to start the applique. On the lower right are the Valdani pearl cotton threads that are to be used in this block. The fuchsia fabric in the center is hand dyed velvet while the stripped and leaf fabric are cotton. The rest of the block is Sue's hand dyed wool. The Valdani and Silken Pearl that will be used in this block are all provided in the kit. You can see then the Green Leaves Silken Pearl from The Thread Gatherer in the lower left corner of the bag.

April Block of the Month

Here are 2 photos of my finished April block of the month by Sue Spargo. The applique pieces that look white are actually a light blue velvet. We learned 4 more new embroidery stitches for this block: eyelet wheel stitch on the small red circles, closed fly stitch as stems for the blue circles, double threaded back stitch on the green leaves, and French knots  above the blue circles. I really like the double threaded back stitch. It looks lacy, but is easy to do. I added, as Sue suggested, bullion stitches around and on the top of the lime green center with lime green size 8 Valdani thread #V18. The small blue circles on the green center are  made by using a 1/4 hole punch. Who knew??? I would have never tried to punch out wool with a hole punch, but it works really well. Sue just sent us a notice that the new hole punches are not quite as good as the one I have, so if you purchase one use it right away to see if it works. The punch is made by Fiskers and has a purple handle. Then I decided to add 1/8 inch blue rick rack and couch it around the  blue circles on the upper flower part with the Genziana wool thread to match the rick rack.
Sue, also, suggested that we add a back stitch with orange sea grass around the orange wool flower pieces, and pistol stitches to the upper part of the ribbon stem using size 8 variegated Valdani #V16 which I did. I then decided to outlined the multicolored cotton pieces with the stem stitch using the same thread and to add purple pistil stitches for stamens on the flowers. I used Shepherds Silk from The Thread Gatherer.

DO THE TWIST

 This is a mini quilt that is 20"x20" that was made for our Bitty Bees first challenge 'A Traditional Block With  A Twist'. The first thought that came to me was 'twist'. That made me think of the 60's, my high school years, the dances and ,of course, THE TWIST. Then I started thinking about what would represent the 60's--love bugs (VW's), bright colors,polka dots, paisley clothes, dances, the Beach Boys  surfing, the slang words we used and this quilt was born. It is a machine appliqued and machine quilted original pattern. The 4 corners do have the traditional star block, but I used Gwen Marston and Freddie Moran's liberated piecing method. There is no measuring and it makes it lots of fun with no two blocks exactly the same. I added some of the slang we used like: flower power, surf's up, tuff, cool, peace man and hang 10 with embroidery thread. This was a VERY fun quilt to design and make. I had found the fabric with the large bright flowers at some time and the Volkswagen (Love Bug) fabric when I  made our son a pillow case. When he was 2 or 3 the Disney movie "The Love Bug" came out and that was his favorite. Since the car's name was Herbie, all VW's were Herbies.
   This quilt, also, was the reason my business and blog are named-Folk Art With a Twist.

Just a Thought

Everyone is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing it is stupid.
Albert Einstein

This is for all of you  that feel you do not fit into the box that people want you to fit into.....Be true to what you know you are supposed to be.   Many artist say they do art because they just HAVE to, that is why they are here.

A Counter of Color

Here the island counter in my kitchen covered with dyed wool. Aren't the colors fantastic? On the nearest end is yellow green, gold green, dark blue green, and one piece of bright yellow green wool. Next are the blues with the third row consisting of the turquoises, royal purple, blue purple and lavender . Last is red, bright orange, soft pink, bright red, bright fuchsia and orange. It just makes me happy to look at all this color.
   It has been a little hard to  have my husband gone for three days and trying to get all my meals while on a crutch and in a boot (so can use only one hand) than I thought it would be. I did not realize how many steps it takes to make a meal in my kitchen, especially when you can carry only one thing at a time! It was a little tricky to put things in and out of the oven, but I was able to stand against my Aga so I did not have to use the crutch.  I am VERY thankful that the tornado and hail did not come our way last night. I did not relish going up and down the stairs with my boot. Well I would have just scooted down on my rear and back up the same way.
 Since I can't sleep with hubby gone, I stayed up last night organizing photos in my Shutterfly account. I love that web site as they make it so easy to organize your photos, crop them, and make photo albums that you can print or not. I know all my photos will be in a safe place forever no matter what. Now my HUGE job is to scan 30 years worth of family photos onto my computer and then download them onto Shutterfly. I thought I had found them all and put them upstairs by the scanner, BUT, yesterday I found lots of them stored in boxes in a cupboard in my hubbies office. And then there are the photos in frames on the walls and in albums including our wedding album. I have no idea how long just scanning them will take, and then to crop and organize them...it makes me tired just thinking about it! I know I did not put dates on lots of them, so I will have to guess what year by guessing the age of our children and where some of the photos were taken (ie, Disney World, Colorado, Mexico, cruises, and so on). After scanning them, I will need to write captions as to date, place, ages of children, and names of people in photos. This is a great and big project to work on while my feet continue to heal this year, I just have to be able to get up the stairs with arms full of photos and my laptop computer! After all this is done (probably in a few years!) I have several family history photo albums from both my mom and my mother-in-law that are full of old photos which will need to be scanned, dated and the history written about each photo as well as who are in them. My mom and mother-in-law have done a great job documenting all the photos in the albums, so at least I do not have to spend time on that.
  I'm off to get lunch and then to finish  my new Benny Harper quilting mystery book by Earlene Fowler. This one is Tumbling Blocks. Her books are all named after quilt block names and are easy reads with a murder  mystery in each book--very fun. I think I have all 15 of her books and she is not done writing them. Sometimes I just need a fun easy fast read.

Spring #2

This is Bellwort and blooms only in the spring. After that the leaves die and it does not appear again until spring.

T

Above is one of our wild Columbine in full bloom. The hummingbirds love these, although they have not arrived at our house yet.


At the right is a close up of my Bleeding Heart.

This is a patch of ajuga. The blue so so intense,I wish they bloomed more that once a year.

 Here is one of my two Bleeding Hearts. I just transplanted it in this bed last spring so I think it is doing well. If you notice the stalk sticking up on the left you will see what our deer do to my flowers---EAT THEM!!

 This is our two crabapple trees. In the last post there is a large photo of the Indian Magic on the left. Golden Raindrops is on the right. The buds are pink, but bloom white and the crabapples are golden. It is my favorite crabapple tree and is in bloom today (Tuesday). This photo was taken on Sunday.

This is a close up of one of my Hellebores.



Here is our latest water feature. It is by the drive and the sidewalk up to our from door. We found this large pot and my husband made it into a water fountain that the birds love. The deer almost drain it dry each night.

Below is photo of my Hellebores. To the left is a hardy Geranium that loves dry shady places and the leaves smell like apples when crushed.